Gathering It Up

Professor J,


Ah, the Jeremy Taylor quote is a fine one. What a wonderful definition! I hope you'll indulge me a few more quotes from our "friend" Lewis on the subject:

Friendship...luminous, tranquil, rational, world of relationships freely chosen...

In comparing friendship to companionship between two people doing something together he says " Friends will still be doing something together, but something more inward, less widely shared, less easily defined."

He also quotes Emerson as saying "Do you love me?' means 'Do you see the same truth?' -- Or at least 'Do you care about the same truth?' The man who agrees with us that some question, little regarded by others, is of great importance can be our Friend. He need not agree with us about the answer." Emerson must have been thinking of his friend Carlyle when he made that statement. They had fervent disagreements over a great many things, and religion topped the list.

I am currently reading The Correspondence of Emerson and Carlyle. A complete collection of their letters written over nearly 40 years of friendship, during which I think they only met 3 times. I will tell you that we look like masters of brevity next to them! Still one must take into account the frequency and speed afforded us by technology. How anxiously they must have waited for the post (of their day :))! They were such interesting men and the relationship mostly carried out in letters; I may not be able to keep from quoting them from time to time. All of this has the idea of friendship swirling around in my thoughts, as if you couldn't tell.

Btw, Lewis corresponded with a woman for 13 years and they never met. His letters to her are published in Letters To An American Lady. Sadly, we do not have hers as she wished to remain anonymous. 

So between our discussion of spiritual matters and friendship I'm reminded of the story of God and Moses told in Exodus where we find that "the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend." In Genesis we're told that He walked with Adam in the cool of the day. John quoted Jesus as saying that there is "no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends." These things tell us something key about God. Whatever else He may be, it seems He is relational. It also appears that there is a certain "friend" element to it, in that it wouldn't be anything the Creator of the Universe would NEED but rather something WANTED as in the definitions and quotes we've used in this post and others.

Now, you have asked some classic "religious" questions. But we have to decide the criteria for answering them. If we are using the Bible as the ultimate authority we can have one sort of discussion. If you are rejecting that concept then we can still turn these ideas over because we have all of nature and man's natural desires which seem to give certain clues. If you are working from a sort of Piggly Wiggly concept of the Bible where you accept God's love, the wisdom of Christ's parables and the common sense of Proverbs yet reject the idea of hell, sin, and an entire unseen supernatural world, that would be yet another type of discussion. Or do you prefer some theological free-for- all?  Choose your poison, Doctor. ;)

I have strongly held beliefs that are a result of many things, not the least of which are my personal experiences.  So while to me some things appear clear and definite, everything (as always) is up for discussion and I will try to avoid the word "know"...even if think I do. ;)